Is plastic bad?
Actually plastic itself is a very useful product and we find it everywhere , furniture, in cars, in clothing. In many cases it can be re-used over and over even for decades. It’s disposal is a problem, but the major problem that we are facing globally is with single -use plastic
What is single-use plastic?
Single-use plastic, otherwise known as disposable plastic, is bad. Even if the plastic item is marked as recyclable, if it’s designed to be thrown away then it’s single-use as 90% of plastic is never recycled after it’s discarded. Single-use plastic, or disposable plastic, is any plastic item that is used once, and then thrown in the trash.
The most common single use plastics that end up in our oceans are: plastic bottles; styrofoam takeaway containers; straws; plastic packaging materials; plastic cutlery and plastic shopping bags
What is the big issue with single use plastic?
In this fast paced, consumer culture that we live in, big companies have convinced us that single use plastic is necessary. These items don’t biodegrade, they just break down into tiny micro particles that contaminate our environment.
Is recycling the answer?
Only 9% of plastic waste gets recycled. The rest is either burned or dumped. The single-use plastic trade and resulting plastic pollution disproportionately affects poorer and disadvantaged communities
Unfortunately, the Covid 19 pandemic saw an unprecedented surge in single-use plastics entering production as consumers demanded that foodstuffs and other products be protected from the virus by plastic. Unfortunately many of those products continue to be unnecessarily covered in plastic.
Single use plastic is a human rights issues
Do not take advantage of a worker who is poor and needy Deut 24:14
Single use plastic ends up in at risk communities with poor waste services as corporates make a fortune. Developed nations export their waste to countries in the global south
Vulnerable waste pickers try to use the to make a meager living. Big business is aware of this but is taking very little real action to stem the tide of single-use plastic that they contribute to the problem.
Imagine the profit in a bottle of coca cola? – which is basically selling flavoured water. A waste picker needs to collect 300 bottles to be able to buy a loaf of bread. Corporations making their profit with single use plastic need to subsidize the work of waste pickers to create a decent wage